Madam, - It would seem from recent events that Fianna Fáil now accepts that our constitution permits certain types of abortion. This was indicated by the arguments advanced by the Irish Government's legal team at the European Court last week. Furthermore, 16 gardaí recently beat up girls and boys distributing completely legal pro-life/pro-family literature on a Galway street. Finally Micheál Martin proposes to vote Yes for EU funding for live embryo experimentation. He is doing this to facilitate the wishes of pharmaceutical and cosmetics firms.
Since 1990 the destruction of 500,000 embryos in the UK failed to produce one single cure. Irish folk's taxes therefore are going to finance cosmetics testing on live little babies all over Europe.
We in the pro-life campaign are in a quandary. But one course is open to us. If, as seems obvious, there is now no pro-life party, ie, nothing to prefer between Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and indeed the other parties on our particular issue, why shouldn't we encourage our supporters to vote strategically?
Such strategic voting might induce Fianna Fáil to reconsider, if only for the sake of votes. We would be making the point that if Fianna Fáil now chooses to ignore Christian morality it does so at its electoral peril. - Yours, etc,
BRIAN FLANAGAN, Buncrana